The Best and Worst of Mary Elizabeth Winstead (2020)

“The Best and Worst of” series chronicles the career highlights and lowlights of an actor starring in one of the week's new theatrical releases. This week, I take a look at the filmography of “Birds of Prey (And the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn)" star Mary Elizabeth Winstead.

Film starring Mary Elizabeth Winstead that I've seen:
Final Destination 3
Death Proof
Live Free or Die Hard
Scott Pilgrim vs. the World
The Thing
Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter
Smashed
A Good Day to Die Hard
The Spectacular Now
Kill the Messenger 
Faults
10 Cloverfield Lane
Swiss Army Man
The Hollars
All About Nina
Gemini Man

Best Performance: Smashed (2012)
This was an incredibly difficult decision as Winstead has turned in a murder's row of unbelievable performances (The Spectacular Now, Faults, 10 Cloverfield Lane, All About Nina) since she graduated from her humble B-horror movie beginnings roughly a decade ago. Even though she's routinely been an unstoppable force on screen, her work in Smashed is on a whole other level of excellence. Her turn as an elementary school teacher who is struggling to get sober is the single most heartbreakingly accurate portrayal of an alcoholic that I've ever seen in a movie and that authenticity along with the unfiltered yet compassionate script made this film a runaway triumph.      

Worst Performance: The Hollars (2016)
John Krasinski's directorial debut is a pleasant enough indie dramedy that I felt got far more shit than it deserved. Honestly the only thing about The Hollars that I had a real issue was how Winstead was utilized. Her talent is completely wasted on a useless secondary character that seems to only exist so the protagonist (Krasinski) can be reminded that he loves his girlfriend (Anna Kendrick) and is ready to tackle fatherhood despite his doubts over his ability to care for a child.

Best Film: The Spectacular Now (2013)
By amassing a dedicated following full of people that start swooning at the mere mention of their name in just under seven years of existence, prolific indie studio A24 has achieved something that's never really existed in the film world outside of Disney. Brilliant projects like The Spectacular Now that were released while the studio was still in its infancy arguably planted the seeds for the birth of this particularly intense strain of cult fandom. Thanks to its unbelievably grounded approach and raw performances from an outstanding cast (Miles Teller, Shailene Woodley, Brie Larson, Kyle Chandler, Winstead,), The Spectacular Now becomes an especially potent coming-of-age romance story.  

Worst Film: A Good Day to Die Hard (2013)
With the release of Zombieland: Double Tap, Jumanji: The Next Level and Bad Boys for Life over the past few months, I've been granted the opportunity to ramble at length about how an energized cast that's eager to reprise their roles and a smart writing/directing team that understands how to naturally move a series forward without forgetting what made it work in the first place are crucial to creating a worthwhile sequel. A Good Day to Die Hard represents what happens when you make one that has neither of those things. Bruce Willis looks like he enjoyed his fifth outing as John McClane as much as his annual prostate exam, McClane's signature one liners are inexplicably absent for the vast majority of the proceedings and the action sequences are flat, joyless bits of CGI-riddled dead air that spit in the face of the electric spectacle that the first four entries in the franchise offered up with varying degrees of success. If the rumors of a reboot prove to be true, hopefully Willis will put forth some actual effort and the studio will hire people that are more talented than John Moore and Skip Woods to run the ship.    

Thank you for reading this week's edition of “The Best and Worst of”. The next victim of my praise and ire will be “Sonic the Hedgehog” star Jim Carrey. 

The Best and Worst of Mary Elizabeth Winstead

The "Best and Worst" series profiles the best and worst work of an actor starring in one of the week's new theatrical releases. This week I take a look at the filmography of "The Hollars" star Mary Elizabeth Winstead.

Films starring Mary Elizabeth Winstead that I've seen:
Death Proof
Live Free or Die Hard
Scott Pilgrim vs. the World
The Thing
Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter
Smashed 
A Good Day to Die Hard
The Spectacular Now
Kill the Messenger
10 Cloverfield Lane

Best Performance: Smashed (2012)
During her first seven or eight years in Hollywood, Winstead wasn't really on my radar. I had enjoyed some of the films she starred in (Live Free or Die Hard, Death Proof, Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter), but she failed to leave any sort of positive or negative impression on me. That all changed when I saw the criminally underappreciated indie drama Smashed in the spring of 2013. Winstead's portrayal of an elementary school teacher who is battling severe alcoholism is heartbreaking, emphatic and alarmingly authentic. Her powerhouse performance here showcased a remarkable level of talent that had somehow been buried for years and she has since gone onto become one of the most reliably impressive actresses in Hollywood.


Worst Performance: Scott Pilgrim vs. the World (2010)
This is yet another case of a poor performance primarily caused by the script and not the actor itself. Winstead plays Ramona Flowers, the mysterious yet enchanting Amazon.ca delivery girl that Scott Pilgrim (Michael Cera) can only date if he defeats her eight evil ex-lovers in combat, who serves as more of plot device than a fully fleshed-out character. Scott Pilgrim vs. the World is full of flaws, but the poor development of its female lead and subsequent underwhelming performance from Winstead is near the top of the list.  

Best Film: The Spectacular Now (2013)
Audiences are treated to at least a half-dozen indie, coming-of-age films each year, but there aren't many that are as well-done as James Ponsoldt's The Spectacular Now. The Spectacular Now makes up for its well-worn premise (a popular high school senior boy falls in love with the misunderstood, quiet girl) with phenomenal acting from its primary cast (Miles Teller, Shailene Woodley, Winstead, Brie Larson, Kyle Chandler) and a level of heart and realism that you typically don't find in these films. Without question, one of my favorite films of the 2010's far.  

Worst Film: A Good Day to Die Hard (2013)
Unlike most long-running franchises, the Die Hard series maintained a remarkable level of consistency over multiple decades. 1988's Die Hard, 1990's Die Hard 2: Die Harder, 1995's Die Hard with a Vengeance and 2007's Live Free or Die Hard are all damn near-perfect action films that are funny, clever and highly entertaining. Then A Good Day to Die Hard came along and brought the franchise's hot streak to a screeching halt with a film that didn't come anywhere close to capturing the spirit and fun of the earlier films. The action scenes were completely forgettable, Jai Courtney was flat-out abysmal as John McClane's son and worst of all, Bruce Willis displayed almost none of John McClane's trademark charisma and snark. Shout-out to Skip Woods, John Moore and whatever dingus at 20th Century Fox that greenlit this film for tarnishing the legacy of Hollywood's greatest action franchise with a half-assed and completely unnecessary sequel that went against everything that made the Die Hard films great.  

Thank you for reading this week's installment of "The Best and Worst of". Next week, I'll take a look at the best and worst work of  "Morgan" star Brian Cox.